In the Danse Macabre, a genre that originated in the late Middle Ages but became popular during the Renaissance, skeletons impersonating death danced with people, regardless of class. Many works of art placed in churches, for example, also recall the theme of death to induce viewers to meditate on the meaning of life. However, until the 20th century, remembering one’s own death was not something negative, but rather an encouragement to lead a virtuous, good and meaningful life.
Today’s society does not like to think too much about death and prefers to live outside of it because we consider that it is something too depressing or morbid for current sensibility. In the 17th century, for example, in the cloistered order of the Trappist friars, they often repeated the phrase “memento mori” to each other and even dug their graves a little each day in order to always keep their death in mind and not lose the meaning of life.Īlthough at first it may seem gloomy, the truth is that the phrase “memento mori” is an invitation to reflect on the brevity of life and the vanity of human ambitions. Many other civilizations made it their own over time. That reminder was not exclusive to the Romans. In this way, when a victorious general was celebrated in procession through the streets of the city, he was also reminded of his death to prevent him from incurring excessive pride. In that same sense, the phrase “memento mori” was used to remind those great men that regardless of their exploits and glories, the epilogue would be the same for everyone. Hominem te memento”, which meant “Look behind, remember that you are a man”. To avoid this, a slave – precisely one of the humblest servants – was in charge of reminding him of his human and mortal nature (limited and perishable) whispering to him: “Respice post te. However, those achievements and praise could make a dent in his “ hubris“ leading to a state of pride, excess and arrogance that made him develop a true delusion of omnipotence.
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